Every now and then, I have actually played through a slow movement, but honestly the past month has been devoted almost entirely to the house project.

It’s easy to forget how utterly immersive this kind of project is.  It’s like putting on a show, except rather than constructing prop kitchens, the plumbing has to actually work and the wardrobes have to be solid, and nothing can look shoddy when exposed to daylight.

Primarily, I’ve been devoting myself to a career of driving.  Adrian does not have a license, and neither does Carole the housekeeper or Ryan the contractor.  This kind of remodel (the kitchen entirely and the tiles in the foyer) involves pretty much a daily pilgrimage to Home Depot.   Trying to organize and consolidate the trips doesn’t really work because new problems constantly arise which require another tool.  I have managed to read the entire Sookie Stackhouse Southern Gothic Vampire series (9 novels + 1 collection of short stories) almost entirely while waiting in line at Home Depot or while Adrian decides on sanded or unsanded grout, or the pallet from the top shelve is airlifted down to get the last set of matching tile we need.

Oddly, I’ve been watching a lot of other people in movies play classical music.  Last night we saw RIDICULE which a scene with an enormous keyboard on which the aristocrats dine while a lady plays.  [As a decorator, Adrian adores any movie featuring a manor house and billowing curtains...I'm not kidding.]

Of course, David Bowie and Catherine Denevue in THE HUNGER are particular favorites for both chamber music and billowing curtains.

Click to see music video from THE HUNGER of the Schubert E flat Trio

Without even trying, I find myself sporting a ponytail and setting the keyboard on “harpsichord.”  And I am also getting paler and paler, thanks to the rain–all part of my master plan to appear on TRUE BLOOD Season 3.

Anyway, today was the first day where I’ve returned to Edward Vilga Ventures.  In some ways, it has been a mini-vacation — certainly not from work since we’ve been working from 8 to 8 usually — but a respite from working on my own projects.  The house is going to be GORGEOUS and now that we’ve bid adieu to the contractor (and it is hard to practice the piano when there’s a circular saw competing with you) and we are focused on general decor, I can swing fully back towards my own writing and visual art.

Thus today, in what felt like an orgy of virtue, I played through the first 3 sonatas slow movements (requiring some concentration as they are relatively new to me) and then dutifully tackled a few difficult passages in K332 and others I more or less have under my belt.  It was thoroughly satisfying and extremely focused and productive.

Perhaps waiting on line at Home Depot has taught me more than I know…